Sophomores Gina Ayala and Kayla Klein contributed in a big South Coast Conference match-up against the Long Beach City College Vikings 7-2 on Tuesday.
The Falcons’ overall season record is 18-8, with a conference record of 9-2.
The Vikings scored a run in the first inning, but pitchers Jamie Ramirez and Klein held the Vikings to one run until the seventh inning, resulting in only two runs.
“I felt that defensively we did well. Making the plays behind the pitcher makes life a lot easier,” Klein said.
Head coach Kodee Murray said, “Long Beach (City College) came out and played extremely well, but we stayed in there and finally got some runs on the score board.”
Second baseman Ayala, who had one RBI, felt that the team did great.
“In the beginning we were behind, but we kept fighting and got the win,” she said.
In practice the main focus is getting better every day.
“In practice the team is working on making the little plays and communicating more. We’re getting better and better every day,” Klein said.
“When you have a long sport like this, it is important to keep getting better,” Murray said.
Murray felt her team did outstanding at the Bakersfield Tournament this season with three wins against Saddleback College, Bakersfield College and Santa Barbara City College. With one loss against Riverside City College.
“Riverside (City College) is one of the best (teams) in the league. The team played a closer game than the score showed,” Murray said.
“I thought our team played really well and were very consistent at the Bakersfield Tournament,” Klein said.
“We kept fighting every inning and did the best we could,” Ayala said.
The next home game will be against Santa Ana College on March 27.
“We’ve played every team once so we just come out knowing its strengths and weaknesses and we use that as an advantage,” Ayala said.
Klein prepares for the next opponent by “staying consistent and keeping the bat hot.”
“Everyone can be challenging on any given day. The biggest thing is to not worry about who we’re playing and just go out there and play our best,” Murray said.
